Warren Buffett

By Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Bio

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Bio

Known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” the world’s most successful investor Warren Buffett was a born businessman. He sold bottles of Coke and chewing gum door-to-door as a child, and on his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett made sure he deducted $35 for his bicycle and watch, which he used on his paper-delivery route. His senior yearbook picture read: “likes math; a future stockbroker.” Buffett spent a lot of time as a child in the lounge at a stock brokerage near his dad’s own stock brokerage office. When he graduated from college, Buffett had saved more than the equivalent of $90,000.

Buffett began investing with economist Benjamin Graham at Graham's partnership. The two worked closely until Graham retired and closed his partnership in 1956, at which point Buffett had accumulated more than $1 million in savings by today’s measures, and he started his own group: Buffett Partnership Ltd. His partnerships would make him a millionaire in the 1960s. Buffett eventually took over textile manufacturing firm Berkshire Hathaway and moved it from the textiles business into the insurance sector. Buffett has invested in a number of companies, though his most lucrative may be Coca-Cola, of which he owns about 400 million shares, according to Bloomberg. He became a billionaire in 1990 and is now worth approximately $67 billion. He takes a relatively small salary of $100,000.

Buffett was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, and underwent radiation treatment three months later. In September of that year, he announced he’d completed treatment. “I am so glad to say that’s over,” he said. A Democrat, Buffett has donated to Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, and endorsed Hillary Clinton for the 2016 election. Buffett has pledged to give away 99 percent of his wealth to charitable causes.